I am UnDead
by kittenxxkisses
Summary: -DRACULA- Lucy has died, only to be rewoken as one of the horrifying Un-Dead. Will she be granted permission to enter the Heaven that she was barred from once before? multichap
1. Death and UnDeath

**[A/N]** Hey everyone! Welcome to my second fanfic (yeah, I'm keeping count!)! I am so excited, this one took my a bit of time to write. I was reading Dracula the other day, and I wondered what being an Un-Dead vampire would feel like. I decided to write down my thoughts based on Lucy's story, and this is Lucy's POV of her time as a vampire. It was originally meant to be a one-shot, but it grew a bit long, so I split it into bite-sized (literally) chapters.

Oh, yeah, and as much as I'd love to be the one responsible for alll of the vampire stories, yeah, it's not me. All credit goes to Bram Stoker. There is text straight from the book, but... No copyright infringements intended!

Happy Reading!

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I lay on my bed, and I felt weak. The good man, Van Helsing, had brushed my hair gently and lain upon my pillow evenly, and I lay there calmly, eyes closed, waiting for Arthur and Dr Seward.

When I heard someone enter the room, I opened my eyes. Seeing Arthur, my heart gave a flutter, weak as it was. Oh, how I would miss him!

"Arthur! Oh my love, I am so glad you have come!" I said lovingly, and he bent over to kiss me. However, Van Helsing drew him back, and told him to hold my hand, as it would comfort me more. He knew me so well, as that was exactly what I wished.

With his warm hand in mine, I gradually closed my eyes, and fell to sleep. My breathing was even and gentle, like a small child's.

And then my breathing changed. My mouth opened, and I heard Dr Seward gasp as he saw my drawn back gums, which showcased my longer canines. I ignored that however, and focused on Arthur. I was in a sort of trance.

My eyes flashed open, and my vision was perfect. In a soft and seductive voice, I said, "Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come! Kiss me!" I longed for something more than his kiss, but he didn't know, and like a fool he bent over eagerly to kiss me.

Van Helsing knew of my true intention, and, catching him by the neck, dragged him back with a fury of strength which I never thought he could have possessed, and hurled him across the room.

"Not for your life!" he said; "not for your living soul and hers!" So he knew, then, what was to become of me. A spasm of rage flitted across my face and my teeth clamped together in fury. Then my eyes closed once again, and I breathed heavily.

Soon after, I opened my eyes, and I could see that they were relieved when they saw the softness in my expression. I had to thank Van Helsing, for, without him, harm would have befell my poor Arthur. I took Van Helsing's great brown hand in my thin, pale one, and kissed it.

"My true friend," I said, in a faint voice, "my true friend, and his!" I referred to Arthur, whom I was causing so much pain. "Oh, guard him, and give me peace!" If anything were to happen to Arthur, even if it were by my own hand, I knew that, in this life, I wouldn't have been able to stand it.

"I swear it," said he solemnly, kneeling beside me and raising my hand, as one does when accepting an oath.

He then turned to Arthur and said to him, "Come, my child, take her hand in yours, and kiss her on the forehead, and only once."

He was eager to comply, and while my soul was pleased with Van Helsing's caution, the monster within me, the monster I was becoming, was enraged. I managed not to let it show as our eyes met. He looked so overcome with pain, so helpless, and I felt so guilty for leaving him.

My eyes closed once again, as I was weak, and Van Helsing – that good, pure man – took Arthur's arm, and drew him away from me.

My breathing grew stuttered once more, and at long last, it all ceased.

My soul went to peace, but some dark taint shadowed my body. It was forbidden for it to enter Heaven, and it was cast back down to earth, filled with shame.

This was it, then. My life as a cursed demon.

I heard Dr Seward's voice say, "Ah, well, poor girl, there is peace for her at last. It is the end!"

Van Helsing's solemn voice rung out, and drilled through my very core. "Not so! Alas! Not so. It is only the beginning!"

How very right he was.

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**[A/N]** So, what did you think? Next chapter coming up tomorrow, I promise :) Reviewers get *thinks* blood flavoured cookies! :P


	2. First Fears

**[A/N]** Hey guys! I've got the cookies! *Throws blood cookies to...no-one?* Aww, I don't think anyone is reading this or will ever read this, but...

Once again, I don't own Dracula or Lucy or Van Helsing or Dr Seward or anyone else. Yeah, I'm sad too. Bram Stoker has so much to be credited for, and I have nothing..._One day, I will be a famous author!_ By the way, I can read the minds of all you people who are like - "She is so bigheaded" - or something like that. Your thoughts aren't safe...mwahahahahaha!

Anyway, without being awkward, I say...Happy Reading!

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I lay still, pretending to be a dead body, as they performed the final rites. I heard all of their pleased exclamations that I was indeed a beautiful corpse, and that it was a pleasure to attend to me.

The blood pounding in their throats was a chore to ignore. They tested my control with their closeness, but I held my thirst, knowing that I could hunt later.

At last, Van Helsing entered along with Dr Seward, and I felt a spasm of fear. He seemed to know all about vampires, what if he killed me? I could not very well attack him in front of all of the bystanders. Besides, it was day, and I could not move.

As it turned out, I did not have much to fear, however he made me quite uncomfortable. He brought some of those garlic flowers – such a hideous presence I have not felt in all my lives – and he stuck a golden crucifix upon my mouth.

I wanted to shriek, as this caused me pain, but I found that the crucifix was stopping my ability to move. I could not even bat an eyelid. What if they happened to come to kill me tonight? I was paralysed with the thought.

Luckily, one of my previous maids saved me from his wrath. She came into the room where I lay, and I was pleasantly pleased, for such devotion in maids was rare. However, it seemed that she was a true wretch at heart, for she unzipped my sheet, and removed the crucifix. If I had not wanted the crucifix removed so much, I would have killed her for her disloyalty. However, she had done me a great service, and to her I was grateful.

I heard Van Helsing's stern disappointment that the wretch had stolen the crucifix, and I was indeed glad. He talked of knives, and terror coursed through me as I knew he knew how to kill me. Then I nearly laughed at the irony of it all, as it was he who was to fear me, and not the other way round. I was a vampire. I could not fear.

I lay there for a while, which during that time my mother was added to peacefully sleep beside me. If she were alive, I knew that I would have hunted her, she was so helpless.

Van Helsing entered again, and he explained to the undertaker that the former arrangement was to be adhered to, as Lord Godalming was coming soon, and it would be less harrowing to his feelings to see me alone. I felt a shiver of delight. Arthur was to visit soon. I would see that beautiful face that was the focus of my hunt.

Dr Seward lifted the sheet from my face, and my cold, unmoving eyes stared upon that sad, beautiful face of Arthur's. Oh, how I longed to sink my teeth into that soft, long neck, and draw out his lifeblood, which sang to me. I remained still though, for I did not wish to frighten him away.

Arthur began to tremble, and soon was shaking with doubt. After a long pause, he turned to Dr Seward and said in a faint whisper, "Jack, is she really dead?"

Dr Seward assured him that it was so, and went on to suggest that it often happened that after death faces became softened and even resolved into their youthful beauty; that this was especially so when death had been preceded by any form of prolonged suffering. Ah, how he was wrong! This was my face to lure helpless victims, to seduce them with my surreal beauty.

Arthur kneeled beside the couch for a while and looked at me lovingly and longingly, and at long last he turned aside. Dr Seward informed him that he must leave, as my coffin had to be prepared, so he came back and took my dead – as he thought it – hand in his and kissed it, then stood and kissed, my forehead. How much restraint it took to hold still! He went away, fondly looking back at me over his shoulder as he left. My lips twitched into an infinitesimal smile.

A coffin would be a horrible nuisance for me, as I had to rise every sunset and return every sunrise, but I would endure it if it meant to get away from this place, and it meant that I was free to begin hunting.

I decided that I wouldn't start with Arthur. No, he was far too obvious a target, and I presumed that, as he was so preoccupied with my demise, Van Helsing would lead a party to kill me, and with him would come Arthur. I would attack him then.

During the night, Van Helsing patrolled the house outside the room where I lay, surrounded by lily, rose, and wild garlic. He was annoying, very much so, and I wished to rip his throat out. Patience, I scolded myself. He would become my victim later, in a place with less potential witnesses.

At long last, I was buried. They lifted my body of the bed where I lay, and placed it gently into a metal coffin. Alas! Metal was difficult to escape. I would manage, of course, but it would be more difficult than if I were in a coffin of wood.

They then placed a leaden sheet over the opening of my coffin, and I felt a spasm of panic. How much of a chore would it be to escape from this heavy duty casing without a trace? I had a feeling that it was Van Helsing's idea. That wretched man!

Then they closed the lid, and I was lifted off the surface. They lowered me into a carriage, and transported me to someplace else. I was vaguely aware of the presence of my mother's coffin beside mine.

I heard the driver chatting to someone else, and I heard snippets of their conversation. Hampstead. That was where they were to take me. Of course, it was where the whole of the Westenra family was buried, so it made perfect sense. I was relieved that they were to bury me with my mother, so that the area could be used for me to rest.

We touched down, and I heard the voices of many that I knew – Van Helsing, Dr Seward, Arthur, and even Quincey Morris.

I was lowered into a tomb, and there was a plaque fashioned from metal to sit on my coffin. When I was placed securely in my place, beside my mother's coffin (and the coffins that belonged to the ancestry of my entire family), they closed the lid with a loud bang. Then I heard the lock click, and I was shut in.

Dimly, I heard Arthur describing how the transfusion of his blood to my veins had made him feel that we were truly married, and that I was his wife in the sight of God. If only he knew how God had abandoned my body because of the dark taint it housed.

Finally, the gathering who had attended my burial dissipated, and I was alone at last. I pondered for a brief moment how to escape my thorough coffin, but then an idea hit me. I would shrink to the breadth of a hair, and thus slip through the miniscule gaps that lined the edge of the coffin. For now, I had to wait until night.

Finally, night arrived in all its dark beauty. It was time to put my powers to action, and I smoothly shrank to a size that would fit through the gaps in the coffin.

Once out, I kept my small size and walked softly to the exit door. Ah, how good it felt to be free! To stretch my legs and move my body felt like the most pleasant experience in the world at that moment.

I slipped through the gap in the door, and grew to my full size. The cool night breeze ran its insubstantial fingers through my hair.

I took a deep breath. It was time to hunt.

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**[A/N]** Oooh, snap! I wonder who she's gonna hunt...

Reviewers are always welcome. I have a new prize for all you guys...Lucy plushies! :) ~_you can choose - Un-Dead or alive_~ I know that you all want Lucy plushies, and I have an endless supply. Reviewers, help yourselves to them!

Oh and, by the way, I hope that plushies are in _so_ much more demand than blood flavoured cookies. I just realised that you guys were the wrong audience for the cookies *blushes*

Cookies, Dracula? I have _plenty_ to spare.


	3. Seductive Blood

**[A/N]** Okay guys, this is seriously not cool. I still have NO reviews. I don't even think anyone is even reading this, so, um, whatever...

Sadly, I don't own Lucy or Van Helsing or Arthur. *brightens* I do, however own the children and their parents, well, their desciptions anyway. _THE HAMPSTEAD HORROR_ is typed out straight from the book, so, um, yeah... Bram Stoker is GENIUS!

Enjoy, people who are potential reviewers..._you know you all have the power to review!_

There was no blood for miles around. I could neither hear the sound of blood pulsing in veins, nor smell the signature, appealing tangy rust smell that accompanied it. I searched for any stray wanderers in the churchyard area, but to my dismay, I could find none.

I decided to put my seductive beauty to good use. I wandered the area, walking gracefully and prettily like a beautiful lady.

My search paid off, as I heard the blood before I smelled it. The noise set my senses on fire, and it was only at that moment that I realised how weak I was, and how desperately I needed blood. I flew through the streets, searching for the cause of that mouth watering heartbeat.

My run ended abruptly as I spotted a small child playing with a wooden car doll. He had short, curly brown hair and almond-shaped green eyes. He looked up as I approached, and smiled widely. His cheeks were rosy and, I noticed, now housed two small dimples.

"Dear sweet child, what are you doing out this late?" I crooned in a sweet voice that was laced with false kindness.

As if in a trance, he rose and walked to me clumsily. Holding onto the skirts of my white dress, he whispered, "Mama left me here, she will come back soon."

"Come for a quick walk with me, sweetheart," I said sweetly, beckoning him to follow me. His mother was to return soon, and I didn't want her to witness my drawing of his blood. Ah, his blood. The smell of it was slightly sweet as he was still a child.

I walked away in the direction that I had come, and he followed obediently, like a little puppy. I led him into a sheltered, dark corner that was hidden from view to all the humans.

Once we were in there, I reached for him and raised him. He smiled and snuggled into my chest. Such easy prey, he was. I lifted his throat to my lips, and rested the pints of my fangs upon his throat. He shivered in anticipation.

My fangs sunk into his throat, and he made no noise. The actual drinking was not painful, I recalled, but I focused on this thought only for a brief moment before the pleasure of his blood swept through me. I almost moaned in delight, but my thirst kept me drinking.

His blood was sweet and warm, with a slight hint of tanginess. It washed through me and filled me with warmth. I also felt like I was growing more powerful every second, as I drained the life out of him and absorbed it into myself.

Once satisfied, I put him down. I wiped the bloodstains off my lips, and shivered in delight. I licked my fingers, loving the taste and feeling of power. The child seemed weak, pale, and unable to walk back on his own, so I reached my hand out and clasped his.

"Come, your mother will be waiting," I said gently, and, seeing as he was having trouble standing, I lifted him. He was lulled into a false sense of security once more, and took comfort in my embrace.

I walked back to the place where I had first found him, and set him down gently. "Goodbye, sweet child," I whispered.

"Bye bye, bloofer lady," he said back, waving his hand rapidly in farewell.

Within seconds of my departure, I heard his mother croon to him lovingly, an echo of my cold hearted kindness. Her scream was unmistakeable as she noticed the wounds on his neck. It rang out through the still night, and I ran faster still.

Back to the churchyard, I shrank again and crept slowly back into my tomb, and into my coffin. I had noticed the faintest hints of sunrise in the sky outside, and I shivered in fear. Then I closed my eyes, and slept in my tomb.

I was stilled once again, as I would be every sunrise.

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The next few days continued in the same pattern of luring one child or another away from whatever they were playing, and drinking from their neck.

I had come to love the taste of children's blood, and the impure, rusty taste of the adult's made me wrinkle my nose up in disgust. The screams of the children's parents were a common sound to me, having heard it almost every night.

I chanced upon a newspaper stand this night, and was shocked by the headlines that glared back at me. "The Kensington Horror", "The Stabbing Woman", and "The Woman in Black" were among the many others. I thought that the latter was a tad ironic, as I wore a dress of white. Another caught my eye, "A Hampstead Mystery". It was _The Westminister Gazette_, and so I began to read.

As I finished, I knew that I needed to be more careful. Perhaps I should take those children that are homeless, or those who have unobservant parents or such.

I noticed that there was also an _Extra Special_, and I was curious, as _The Westminister Gazette_, was not very popular for having extras or anything of the sort. Interested, I leaned forward and picked up the small newspaper.

_THE HAMPSTEAD HORROR_, it read in blaring letters. I was afraid. Had I been discovered by prying eyes?

_ANOTHER CHILD INJURED_

The "Bloofer Lady"

_We have just received intelligence that another child, missed last night, was only discovered late in the morning under a furze bush at the Shooter's Hill side of Hampstead Heath, which is, perhaps, less frequented than the other parts. It has the same tiny wound in the throat as has been noticed in other cases. It was terribly weak, and looked quite emaciated. It too, when partially restored, had the common story to tell of being lured away by the "bloofer lady."_

Ah, it was the young girl that I had drunk from last night. She had had blonde pigtails and wide blue eyes. She seemed a tad older than my usual prey, but she tasted right all the same. The tiniest bit better than most, as was determined by her diet. She must have belonged to a family that owned quite a bit of wealth.

I had left her under the furze bush so as to make it look as if the wounds in her throat were caused by the spines of the plant, but she had remembered enough to tell her tale of the bloofer lady.

I wondered briefly why I was nicknamed the 'bloofer' lady. Was it perhaps because 'bloofer' was a young child's interpretation of the word 'bloodsucker'? If so, then I had to find a way to make sure that the child knew nothing. Perhaps knocking them out before I started to drink?

I had come out to hunt tonight, so I once again resumed my purpose. I smelled the air around me eagerly but daintily, as to not attract the attention of onlookers. I drew a deep breath and opened my mouth, almost as if to _taste_ the air.

I caught the usual sweetish tangy taste of a child's blood. I walked gracefully to where the scent was coming from, and found a tiny child with blonde hair and green eyes. He had an angelic cherub face, and his blood whet my appetite.

I carried him carefully to the churchyard, which had become my usual feeding ground. I heard a rustle of movement that signified the approach of another, and I put the child down beneath two yew trees at the side of the churchyard furthest from my tomb.

I flew as fast as I could, so that if there were any humans watching, all they would see was a white streak. Alas! I recognised the unique smell of Van Helsing's blood, and then a flash of Dr Seward's. I sniffed eagerly for any trace of the blood of Arthur, but there was none.

Hoping that Van Helsing had no suspicions of what the mysterious white streak was, I hurried with inhuman speed back to the two yew trees. I let out a low growl, inaudible to human ears. The child was gone. Someone had stolen my prey! I had my suspicions of Van Helsing, and I had a feeling he knew that the 'bloofer lady' was me.

I ran like a white blur back to my tomb, behind the line of juniper trees that marked the entrance to the churchyard. Quickly, I shrank and forced my way into my tomb, quickly returning to my original size and opening the lid to my coffin.

And I howled in rage.

The accursed Van Helsing had struck a saw to the leaden casing, as if to check if my body still lay within the coffin. He knew, then. He knew all.

I shrunk again, and crept into my coffin slowly, using the new opening that had been created. It was now easier to creep out during the night, but it still angered me that Van Helsing was so knowledgeable about vampires.

Panicking, I grew taller and wider until I returned to my original size, and lay still, waiting for the sun to freeze me once more.

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**[A/N]** Prying Van Helsing! He shouldn't have done that, should he? Well, what do you think. Is what he's doing right?

Tell me in a review. Today's special prize for reviewers is...um...a...bat? Do you guys like bats? Do you want a bat? Then review, and you'll get one!

And PLEASE REVIEW...it might help you if you read this story too ;)


	4. Discovered

**[A/N]** Heyy, sorry it's been so long since I've updated but I was sooooooooo busy with school work and stuff. Thanks to my imaginary reviewers, cause I don't have any real ones as of yet :( Oh well. Oh, and there'll be no reward for reviewing. I wanna see if anyone will review on their own ;)

Disclaimer - All characters except for children go to Bram Stoker *sigh* I'm gonna be famous one day, I'm writing a non-fanfic that I hope to get published. Dreaming is NOT against the law.

Enjoy!

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_Chapter 4_

At two o'clock that afternoon, I got a faint surprise. I lay locked, as the sun held me prisoner, and the door of my tomb clicked. My mind threw spasms of panic. Was my master, the eerie vampire who had tainted my body, about to visit?

Luckily, it was not my master, but whomever it was sent a chill of fear throughout me all the same. It was a set of heavy footsteps that walked with a purpose, and a pair of lighter footsteps that conveyed disbelief and disinterest. Van Helsing and Dr Seward, I presumed. They walked over to my coffin – this I knew for the direction of their footsteps gave them away.

The lighter footsteps stopped a few feet away from my coffin, but the heavy footsteps continued to march toward my coffin. The lid of my coffin opened, and I tensed. Sunlight got in here during the day, and I did not want to burn.

The leaden flange was forced back, and some dim sunlight tickled my closed eyelids. Luckily the extent of it was blocked out by a large man's silhouette.

I heard someone gasp, and I felt a disbelieving gaze flit over me, like a delicate butterfly's wings.

"Is this a juggle?" asked the voice of Dr Seward, and I knew that it had indeed been him and Van Helsing who had ruined the leaden casing on my coffin last night. To prove my statement, Van Helsing said in response, "Are you convinced now?"

He reached out his hand and pulled back my dead lips, which were the dark velvet red of blooming roses. "See," he went on, "see, they are even sharper than before. With this and this" – and he touched one of my canine teeth and the one directly below it – "the children can be bitten. Are you of belief now, friend John?"

I stayed absolutely still, frozen by the sun's power, but inside my mind was a confused, frightened jumble. My death was inevitable, then. Van Helsing seemed so sure of his facts, needless to say that they were all true. All would come to trust him soon, and then my doom would become their focus.

"She may have been placed here last night," came Dr Seward's voice, ashamed.

"Indeed?" was Van Helsing's response. "That is so, and by whom?"

"I do not know. Someone has done it."

"And yet she has been dead one week. Most peoples in that time would not look so." Dr Seward had no answer to this, but Van Helsing did not sound triumphant in any way. He was staring intently at me – this I could tell with my eyes closed. He raised my eyelids and stared into my eyes, and I saw that it was indeed Van Helsing's monstrous shadow that had prevented the sunlight from reaching me. He then parted my lips again and examined my teeth once more.

"Here, there is one thing which is different from all recorded; here is some dual life that is not as the common. She was bitten by the vampire when she was in a trance, sleep-walking – oh you start; you do not know that, friend John, but you shall know it all later – and in trance could he best come to take more blood. In trance she died, and in trance she is Un-Dead, too. So it is that she differ from all other. Usually when the Un-Dead sleep at home their face show what they are, but this so sweet that-was when she not Un-Dead she go back to the nothings of the common dead. There is no malign there, see, and so it make hard that I must kill her in her sleep."

So he did plan to kill me in the time to come, during the time when the sun rendered me powerless. But his little speech had explained to me the cause of my seductive beauty, while my master had been gaunt and old.

Van Helsing must have seen something in Dr Seward's face, for in a joyous tone he said, "Ah, you believe now?" I shivered internally. He had convinced one of his group, the hunting party that strove to destroy me.

Dr Seward answered, "Do not press me too hard all at once. I am willing to accept. How will you do this bloody work?"

Alas! He had pledged his belief to my enemy, and I grew wary of their presence beside me. Were they to do their foul deed now, then? Were these to be my final hours?

"I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I shall drive a stake through her body." So this was the way that I would end, hideously mutilated by one that I used to have faith in. I remembered my human self asking him to do all he could to protect Arthur. These were words that I should not have spoken.

Van Helsing closed the catch of his bag with a loud, echoing snap, and said, "I have been thinking, and have made up my mind as to do what is best. If I did simply follow my inclining I would do now, what is to be done; but there are things to follow, and things that are a thousand times more difficult in that them we do not know. This is simple. She have yet no life taken, though that is of time; and to act now would be to take danger from her forever. But then we may have to want Arthur, and how shall we tell him of this?" Yes, how so? How could they tell the one who loved me of their hideous plan of mutilation? How would he believe?

"If you, who saw the wounds on Lucy's throat, and saw the wounds so similar on the child's at the hospital; if you, who saw the coffin empty last night and full today with a woman who have not change only to be more rose and more beautiful in a whole week after she die – if you know of this and know of the white figure last night that brought the child to the churchyard, and yet of your own senses you did not believe, how, then, can I expect Arthur, who know none of these things, to believe?" He wouldn't. There was absolutely no way that sweet, gentle Arthur would believe anything so horrifying as my existence as a vampire.

"He doubted me when I took him from her kiss when she was dying." Ah, that I did notice, and how it pained me now that he had done so. If he had not, if he had let Arthur kiss me…I shuddered internally with pleasure at the thought of Arthur's rich, warm blood.

"I know he has forgiven me because in some mistaken idea I have done things that prevent him say goodbye as he ought; and he may think that in some more mistaken idea this woman was buried alive; and that in most mistake of all we have killed her. He will argue back that it is we, mistaken ones, that have killed her by our own ideas; and so he will be much unhappy always. Yet he never can be sure; and that is the worst of all. And he will sometimes think that she he loved was buried alive, and that will paint his dreams with horrors of what she must have suffered; and, again, he will think that we may be right, and that his so beloved was, after all, Un-Dead." Did Van Helsing truly expect Arthur to believe that I was Un-Dead? Did he expect Arthur to grasp such a far-fetched truth? If so, he was to be sadly disappointed.

"No! I told him once, and since then I learn much. Now, since I know it is all true, a hundred thousand times more do I know that he must pass through the bitter waters to reach the sweet. He, poor fellow, must have one hour that will make the face of heaven grow black to him; then we can act for good all round and send him peace. My mind is made up. Let us go." Thank the devil for letting him leave, and leave me to live for at least another few days.

"You return home for tonight to your asylum, and see that all be well. As for me, I shall spend the night here in this churchyard in my own way. Tomorrow night you will come to me to the Berkeley Hotel at ten of the clock. I shall send for Arthur to come too, and also to that fine man of America that gave his blood." Mr Morris! Arthur and Mr Morris were to join them, hoped Van Helsing. I, on the other hand, sincerely hoped that he was wrong, for I knew that Mr Morris was a practical man, and that he would not accept these ideas.

"Later we shall all have work to do. I come with you so far as Piccadilly and there dine, for I must be back here before the sun set."

They walked away from my coffin and toward the door. I heard them wrench it open and then heard it close again, and the quite recognisable sound of the click of the door's lock. I hoped fervently that they would allow me to hunt yet again tonight, but I quite doubted it.

Ah, my doubts were realised! I resumed my nightly ritual of size-shifting and flitted to the door in haste, but alas! Smeared across the door was crushed wild garlic, and hanging in the opening was a small crucifix. These seemingly insignificant things provided a stable barrier that which the Un-Dead cannot cross, and already I felt weak from the lack of blood. Growling steadily, I retreated from the doorway. The hunt would have to wait until the morrow.

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**[A/N] **How long is Lucy gonna be able to hold without hunting?

Luv ya, see you tomorrow

I _will_ update regularly now, I swear. Once a day :)


	5. Death of UnDeath

**[A/N]** Heyyyyyyyy! This is a pretty suspenseful scene, filled with many encounters. What'll happen? Read and find out, of course! :) A huge THANK YOU to my first reviewer of this story - **Ehraidsess Dathu**! I'm sooooooooooooooooo happy right now! :)

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah. I know I don't own it. Bram Stoker does. Lucky him.

But, don't let my negativity distract you from our vamps...

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_Chapter 5_

It was a long wait that day, not nourished by blood as I should have been. It was worsened by the fact that it was my second day in a row without any children's blood, and I felt a gnawing thirst in my throat again as it had been during my funeral days.

I awoke again at the night, as was usual, and hoped that the garlic and crucifix had been removed. To my intense delight, they were. I escaped gleefully, searching for the sweet, tangy rust-free scent that I had missed so much.

I found a lone child playing among the trees with delight. When I approached, she smiled quickly, then her smile suddenly became a frown. It was the child with the blonde hair and the blue eyes that I had drunk from earlier, and she clearly remembered me.

I was thirsty, devastatingly so, so I did not care for her remembrance. I clutched her to my breast and walked gracefully, as to not arouse suspicion within the child, towards an avenue of dark yew trees.

I held her to my chest tightly and drew her throat to my mouth as was the usual. The scent of her blood awoke a demonic thirst within me, a welcome reprieve after all those days that I had gone without. A ray of moonlight fell upon me from above, yet a placed my fangs upon her throat, as I did not notice any bystanders.

She gave a sharp little cry, such as a child gives in sleep, or a dog as it lies before the fire and dreams. I did not care, though, for her blood was filling me with nourishment and strength, something that I had lacked for days on end.

I raised my head after a while, my lips bloodstained and a stream of blood trickling down my chin onto my robe.

Then I saw Van Helsing, Dr Seward, Mr Morris, and one other scent that I cursed myself for not recognising before. My whole body trembled in anticipation of the blood that I had been hunting my whole vampiric life. Arthur.

I drew back from them all with an angry snarl, like a cat being caught unawares. My eyes blazed cruelly, and I flung the child to the ground, smiling yet growling over it like a dog over a bone. This was my prey.

The child gave a sharp cry yet again, and lay there moaning, but I did not give a care, for the scent of Arthur's blood was distracting me. Unable to hold my longing for very much longer, I advanced upon him with outstretched arms and a wanton smile. He fell back and hid his face in his hands.

I pressed on, however, and with a seductive, languorous grace I said, "Come to me, Arthur. Leave those others and come to me. My arms are hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come, my husband, come!"

My words were diabolically sweet – like the tinkling noise of glass when struck – and they captivated all who were there, not just Arthur. I wished to sink my fangs into his throat and suck the power and life from him.

Arthur, as if under a spell, removed his hands from his face and opened his arms wide. Smiling viciously, I leapt for his outstretched arms, when Van Helsing sprang forward and dangled his golden crucifix between them.

I recoiled instinctively, my face distorted with rage. I dashed past him quickly to enter the tomb, where he could not harm me.

Within a foot or two of the door, however, I stopped as if arrested by some powerful force. I turned upon them. And the moonlight shone upon my face, and I could see that they were taken aback by my intense fury.

My eyes seemed to throw out sparks of hell-fire, and my brows were wrinkled in a devastating frown. My deep red lips were contorted into a square. My face was overcome by confused malice. My face was supposed to convey the message of death.

I remained between the crucifix and the tomb door that was closed to me, trapped by sacred forces. Van Helsing broke the silence by asking Arthur, "Answer me, oh my friend! Am I to proceed in my work?"

Arthur threw himself on his knees, and hid his face in his hands as he answered, "Do as you will, friend; do as you will. There can be no horror like this ever any more!" he groaned. He thought of me as a horror, did he?

Mr Morris and Dr Seward simultaneously moved towards him, and took his arms. Van Helsing bent down and removed some of the putty-like objects that lined the openings of the tomb.

They all looked upon me in horrified amazement as, when Van Helsing stood back, I shrank and flitted through the gap that he had created. I heard them all breathe a sigh of relief as he restored the putty, and I knew that I was trapped. Was tonight to be my last night, then? I could only hope that it wasn't so.

* * *

The four of them visited me at one o'clock the next day, and presently I knew that my life was over. I wanted to do something to aid me in my escape of the pain they were sure to bring, but the sun had frozen me still, and I could only listen in horror.

I heard them open my coffin again – and could feel Arthur trembling – but he calmed when he saw my body.

"Is this really Lucy's body, or only a demon in her shape?" he asked, his voice hard, and I presumed that it matched his expression.

"It is her body, and yet not it," responded Van Helsing. "But wait a while, and you shall see her as she was, and is."

I heard someone remove various contents from a bag, and I knew what they all were. I heard a soldering iron and some plumbing solder, a small oil lamp which provided a fierce heat and bright light. I hoped that I would not burn. I heard the chink of operating knives on metal, then, at last, that which I had been dreading. It was a long rounded wooden stake, with one sharpened edge.

Along with the stake he pulled out a heavy hammer, that which was used to break coal into lumps.

When all was out of the bag, Van Helsing gave a preparatory speech, and within it he asked for the hand of him who loved me the best to kill me, which I thought quite a bit ironic. I knew who it would be, though. It would be Arthur, him whom I had planned to kill. The hunter became the hunted.

Arthur's brave voice rung out through the still tomb. "My true friend, from the bottom of my broken heart I thank you. Tell me what I am to do, and I shall not falter!" He was so accepting of this gruesome task, and I shuddered inwardly. This could not be the Arthur that I knew.

"Brave lad!" praised Van Helsing. "A moment's courage, and it is done. This stake must be driven through her." Just as I had presumed; stakes were lethal to vampires.

"It will be a fearful ordeal – be not deceived in that – but it will be only a short time, and you will then rejoice more than your pain was great; from this grim tomb you will emerge as though you tread on air. But you must not falter when once you have begun. Only think that we, your true friends, are round you, and that we pray for you all the time."

"Go on," said Arthur hoarsely. My, he was brave. "Tell me what I am to do."

"Take this stake in your left hand, ready to place to the point over the heart, and the hammer in your right. Then when we begin our prayer to the dead – I shall read him; I have here the book, and the others shall follow – strike in God's name that so all will be well with the dead that we love, and that the Un-Dead pass away." Van Helsing's voice never wavered, and I felt a fleeting spasm of rage. He thought that what he was doing would make all well. He wished to take my shadow from this earth, and send me on to the Heaven that had denied me once before.

I heard the hammer and the stake being lifted by Arthur, and there was no sound of trembling or shaking. Van Helsing began to recite from the book the prayer to the dead, and I heard the voices of Dr Seward and Mr Morris struggle and blunder through following him. The point of something very sharp formed a dint in my flesh above my heart.

Then he struck with all his might, and the extent of the pain was absolutely unbearable. I shrieked and writhed in agony. My eyes flashed open and my teeth champed together, slicing my lips and churning the blood, forming a crimson foam. My face quivered in agony and I watched Arthur's unwavering figure drive the stake deeper and deeper into my heart, never faltering in his strike.

As the stake bit into my heart, I was fading out. My senses dropped to a human level, and then disappeared altogether. The last thing that I felt was the slick wet blood surrounding my heart. For a second before I blacked out, I felt human. I looked at Arthur and felt that what he was doing was right. I felt a sensation of intense relief, and a feeling of flying.

I was free.

* * *

**[A/N]** It's the end, but fear not! I have ideas for an epilogue, which I shall promptly put into writing. (don't mind the pompous-ness)

What did you think of the ending? Was it too quick?


	6. New Life Epilogue

**[A/N] **Finally, an epilogue! Our story draws to a conclusion *tear*. I hope you enjoyed every minute, second, hour of it...I certainly did! I know I sound a bit creepy right now, but I kind of will miss this sense of commitment that I had, even if I didn't follow up very regularly :(

Disclaimer: Bram Stoker is _dead_! How could I be him?

* * *

_Epilogue_

_Come to me, daughter_. The words swirled within my head, and I cautiously opened my eyes. A wrought golden gate stood in front of me, imposing and graceful at the same time. A beautiful, gentle-looking man stood in front of the gate, his tamed brown beard enhancing his gentle appearance.

It seemed to be him who had been saying the words. His mouth was moving, but it was not my ears that were hearing the sound. No! The words were within my mind, acting as if they were thoughts of my own.

He walked toward me gracefully, and I shied away, blushing. I was engaged to dear, sweet Arthur. I sighed sadly. I would not see him for quite a while.

He gathered me in his arms, and his embrace was fatherly, not romantic, and I snuggled into his chest like a pretty daughter.

"My child," he said, drawing back and looking at me approvingly. "I have waited a while. Come," he said, beckoning me towards the gate – which had miraculously shifted open at his gesture. Astounded, I walked within the gate.

From the giant floating golden cross, I discerned where I was. I rounded on the father figure, whom I assumed to be the all-forgiving God – and asked him a question that had been plaguing my mind for a while. "Why was I not accepted into Heaven earlier?"

His response was weary, and quite sad. He took my hand in his, and said earnestly, "My dear, I have been awaiting you a while. You were barred from entry until your human body was cleansed, and the death of your Un-Dead has assured me of that. You are now pure."

I smiled, glad that it wasn't anything to do with any past sin. I imagined a bed, tired as my body was, and one promptly appeared. I thought of Arthur, and all those lives which he had saved, and a wider smile crept across my face.

Heaven at last.

* * *

**[A/N]** How was the ending? Was God okay? I kind of don't really imagine God to be like this - I'm not Christian, I'm Hindu - so I dunno if I portrayed him right...Oh well, it's a fanfic, not some sort of religious documentary

I'll see you in my next story, readers! ;)


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